In the mid-1960s various artists found new and unusual ways to counteract the growing commercialization of the art world -- what better way than to take the art (more or less) out of the gallery altogether. Most Environmental artists built their... [more]

In the mid-1960s various artists found new and unusual ways to counteract the growing commercialization of the art world -- what better way than to take the art (more or less) out of the gallery altogether. Most Environmental artists built their works in the great outdoors, and many even aligned themselves with the then-fledgling environmental movement. Their work incorporates spiritual and natural elements and is flavored by potent anti-urban attitudes. The methods and styles of Environmental artists are actually quite wide-ranging. There is some debate about pieces like Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty," a 1,500-foot rock-and-salt jetty built in the Great Salt Lake, which functions in certain ways more as an assault on the earth than a project in favor of it. Other important pieces include Christo's "Running Fence," 24 miles of nylon fabric fence that ran through California. This work cost $3.2 million and stood for two weeks. Walter DeMaria's "Lightning Field" draws down an awesome display of nature's power: it consisted of 400 lightning rods laid out in a grid in New Mexico. Richard Long documented his walks through the English countryside, photographing sensitive little arrangements and marks he made with sticks, flowers, dirt, or whatever else he found. Many Environment works were launched on a monumental scale, and required construction crews, heavy industrial equipment, and engineers to execute. This kind of Earth art evokes archaeological wonders of the ancient world like Stonehenge and Easter Island. While viewers could certainly visit some of the Earth art sites, it's an interesting irony that most of them ended up displayed as photos in galleries. [show less]